That’s sort of a strong opinion for a foe the UConn football team only plays every now and then. But the UConn offensive lineman wasted no time in proclaiming his hate for the Owls.

Well, not necessarily for the Owls. It’s the memories of the 2008 game, played in the remains of Hurricane Hannah in Philadelphia, that really haunt Hurd. He left that game early with a high ankle sprain that hampered him for much of the remainder of the season.

But wait, that’s not the reason he has such strong feelings about Temple.

“That game still brings back nightmares because of the plane ride home,” Hurd said Tuesday. “It was up and down, dropping out of the sky. Donald Brown was sitting next to me sweating. I was sweating. We were holding each other. It was a terrible flight that I never want to get involved with again.

“So I hate Temple for that reason.”

The image of the 6-foot-7, 325-pound Hurd holding fast to Brown is precious. Hurd is not the only one who recalls the game more for the flight home than for the outcome.

Temple came close to outplaying the Huskies. The Owls held a 6-0 lead before Tony Ciaravino hit a pair of tough field goals in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. Temple started the overtime with another field goal before Brown scored to end the game on a 7-yard touchdown run.

It was a sloppy, ugly game played in horrendous conditions. Apparently it didn’t come close to the terror that was the flight back to Connecticut mere hours after the game ended.

“The thing I remember was the flight home,” fullback Anthony Sherman said. “I actually think that’s what made me afraid of flying. It was awful. I thought we were going to die. Hurd’s sweating, Donnie Brown’s got his head between his knees.

“I was sitting behind both of them. They were like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’ Hopefully there won’t be a monsoon coming up the coast this time.”

Temple will likely be difficult enough without the Huskies’ having to battle poor weather conditions. The Owls are 2-0 and are coming off a 9-4 season and their first bowl game in 30 years. But Temple struggled to get past Villanova and Central Michigan in its first two games.

Coach Al Golden said his team hasn’t found any rhythm offensively, partially because running back Bernard Pierce, who ran for more than 1,600 yards last year as a freshman, is battling a hand injury that limited him to just 10 carries against Central Michigan.

“We aren’t playing very well,” Golden said. “We play well at times and in spurts, but we haven’t put it together collectively.”

Gotta block: There was only one change to the depth chart this week. Leon Kinnard joins Nick Williams on punt return. Kinnard takes the place of Gary Wilburn, who fumbled a punt against Texas Southern that UConn recovered.

However, the fumble wasn’t the only reason Wilburn was pulled from that spot.

Scott Lutrus remains No. 1 on the depth chart at Husky linebacker despite sitting out last week with what was called an “upper extremity” injury. Of course, there was no word about whether Lutrus will return this week. Edsall was asked whether Lutrus would be out for the season.

Lutrus’ status will be announced Thursday night. Or not announced. If his name doesn’t appear on that day’s injury report, he will play Saturday.

Coming back?: Cody Endres and Erik Kuraczea drew indefinite suspensions from the university toward the end of preseason camp. It sounds as if they will be back soon.

Asked about them and when they might return, Edsall said he would address their status next week.

Endres lost his No. 2 quarterback job to Michael Box and is going to have to work to get it back. Kuraczea was on the third-team offensive line and has quite a bit of work to do to get onto the depth chart. Both of them likely have a ways to go to get back into Edsall’s good graces.

Extra points: Temple special teams coach Sean Desai is a Shelton native ... UConn quarterback Zach Frazer’s younger sister, Emily, is a freshman outside hitter on the Temple volleyball team ... Temple is the first of consecutive Mid-American Conference opponents for UConn. Buffalo visits Rentschler Field next week. UConn has had little trouble with MAC teams since 2002, going 15-1. The lone loss was a 24-21 overtime defeat against Ball State at Memorial Stadium ... UConn has won 13 straight against MAC teams by an average of 17.8 points.

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